1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a bistable semiconductor component for high frequencies with a semiconductor chip consisting of a sequence of at least four zones of alternating opposite types of conductivity, the two outer zones, the emitter regions, being more heavily doped than the two inner zones, the base regions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known semiconductor components of this sort (thyristors) are so designed that the lifetime of the charge carriers in the base regions .tau..sub.B is kept relatively low in order to maintain a short release time, i.e. the minimum time necessary for the thyristor to regain its blocking ability in the forward direction after being turned off (cf. e.g. Herlet, A.: Physical Principles of Thyristor Properties, in: Scientia Electrics, Vol. XII (1966). p. 117 ff). A shortening of the release time by reduction of the base lifetime cannot, however, be carried on without limit, because below a critical lifetime for a given base width the forward voltage drop increases exponentially, in fact, approximately proportional to the expression exp (d/L). Here d is half the width of the two base regions, L = .sqroot.D.multidot..tau..sub.B is the diffusion length and D is the diffusion constant.
From German Pat. No. 1,295,695, a thyristor is already known in which the release time is decreased with constant forward voltage drop by applying a voltage to an additional electrode -- for example, to a base region as a control zone -- so that the electric field established within the semiconductor chip very quickly removes the minority carriers.